يا خَلِيلَيَّ تَيَّمَتْني وَحيدُ

فَفُؤادي بها مُعَنَّىً عَمِيدُ

O my two friends, Wahid has enthralled me,

and my heart, because of her, is tormented and stricken.

غادةٌ زانها من الغُصْن قَدٌّ

ومن الظَّبي مُقلتان وجِيدُ

A maiden whose figure the branch adorned,

and the gazelle lent her a neck and eyes;

وزهاها من فَرْعِها ومن الخد

ديْنِ ذاك السَّوادُ والتَّوْريدُ

her tresses and cheeks clothed her

in that darkness and rosy bloom.

أوقد الحسْنُ نارَه من وحيدٍ

فوق خدٍّ ما شَانَهُ تخْدِيدُ

Beauty kindled its fire from Wahid

upon a cheek no scoring ever marred.

فَهْيَ برْدٌ بخدِّها وسلامٌ

وهي للعاشقين جُهْدٌ جهيدُ

She is coolness and peace upon her cheek,

yet for lovers she is bitter torment.

لم تَضِرْ قَطُّ وجهها وهْو ماءٌ

وتُذيبُ القلوبَ وهْيَ حديدُ

Her face, though water, has never harmed,

yet it melts hearts even when they are iron.

ما لما تصطليه من وجنتَيْها

غير تَرْشافِ رِيقِها تَبْريدُ

Nothing cools the fire one takes from her cheeks

save sipping the nectar of her mouth.

مثْلُ ذاك الرضابِ أطفأ ذاك ال

وَجد لَوْلا الإباءُ والتَّصرِيدُ

Nectar like that would quench this

passion, were it not for refusal and withholding.

وغَريرٍ بحسنها قال صِفْها

قلت أمْران هَيِّنٌ وشديدُ

A guileless youth, beguiled by her beauty, said: Describe her.

I said: Two things—one easy, one hard.

يسهل القول إنها أحسن الأشْ

ياءِ طُرّاً ويعْسرُ التحديدُ

It is easy to say she is the loveliest

of all things; precise description is hard.

شمسُ دَجْنٍ كِلا المنيرَيْن من شم

سٍ وبدْرٍ من نُورها يستفيدُ

A sun amid cloud: both luminaries—the sun

and full moon—borrow their light from her.

تتجلَّى للناظرين إليها

فَشَقيٌّ بحسنها وسعيدُ

She unveils herself to those who gaze upon her,

making one wretched through her beauty, another blessed.

ظبيةٌ تسكن القلوب وترعا

ها وُقمْرِيَّةٌ لها تغريدُ

A gazelle dwelling in hearts and grazing them,

and a ringdove with a song all her own.

تتغنَّى كأنها لا تُغَنِّي

من سكونِ الأوصالِ وهي تُجيدِ

She sings as though she were not singing,

so still are her limbs, though she performs masterfully.

لا تَراها هناك تَجْحَظُ عينٌ

لك منها ولا يَدِرُّ وريدُ

You never see an eye bulge there

on her account, nor a vein throb:

من هُدُوٍّ وليس فيه انْقِطاعٌ

وشُجُوٍّ وما به تبليدُ

such is her composure, without any break,

and such her pathos, without dullness.

مَدَّ في شأو صوتها نَفَسٌ كا

فٍ كأنفاس عاشقيها مَديدُ

A breath has lengthened the reach of her voice—

ample, prolonged like her lovers’ sighs.

وأرقَّ الدلالُ والغُنْجُ منه

وبَراهُ الشَّجا فكاد يبيدُ

Coquetry and coyness have made it tender,

and sorrow has worn it thin, almost to extinction.

فتراه يموت طَوْراً ويحيا

مُسْتَلَذّاً بَسِيطُهُ والنَّشِيدُ

You see it die of ardor, then live again,

its plain air and its chant both savored.

فيه وَشْيٌ وفيه حَلْيٌ من النَّغْ

مِ مَصوغٌ يختال فيه القصيدُ

It holds embroidery, and jewels of melody,

fashioned so the poem struts within them.

طاب فُوها وما تُرَجِّعُ فيه

كلُّ شَيْءٍ لها بذاك شهيدُ

Sweet is her mouth, and what she repeats in it;

everything bears witness for her to that.

ثَغَبٌ يَنْقَعُ الصَّدَى وغِناءٌ

عنده يوجد السرورُ الفقيدُ

A spring that quenches thirst, and song

beside which lost joy is found.

فلها الدَّهْرَ لاثِمٌ مُسْتَزيدٌ

ولها الدهر سامع مُسْتَعيدُ

The age itself kisses her, craving still more,

and the age listens to her, asking a reprise.

في هوى مثْلِها يَخفُّ حَليمٌ

راجح حلْمُهُ ويَغْوى رشيدُ

In love of one like her, the forbearing man grows light,

though his judgment is weighty, and the rightly guided strays.

ما تُعاطِي القلوبَ إلا أصابتْ

بهواها منهُنَّ حيْثُ تُرِيدُ

She never takes aim at hearts without striking

with her love exactly where she wills.

وَتَرُ العَزْفِ في يَدَيْها مُضَاهٍ

وَتَرَ الزَّحْف فِيهِ سهمٌ شَديدُ

The lute-string in her hands resembles

a bowstring bearing a sharp arrow.

وإذا أنْبَضَتْهُ للشَّرْبِ يوماً

أيقنَ القومُ أنها ستَصيدُ

When one day she plucks it for the drinkers,

the company knows she will hunt them down.

مَعْبَدٌ في الغناء وابن سُرَيْج

وَهْيَ في الضَّرْبِ زَلْزَلٌ وعَقيدُ

In song she is Ma‘bad and Ibn Surayj;

in percussion she is Zalzal and ‘Aqil.

عَيْبُها أنَّها إذا غَنَّتِ الأحْ

رَار ظلُّوا وهُمْ لديها عَبيدُ

Her only fault is that, whenever she sang, free

men remained before her as slaves.

واستزادتْ قلوبَهم من هواها

بِرُقاها وما لَدَيْهِمْ مَزيدُ

She made their hearts ask more of her love

through her spells, when they had no room for more.

وحسانٍ عَرَضْنَ لي قلتُ مهلاً

عن وحيدٍ فحقُّها التَّوْحِيدُ

Beauties appeared before me; I said, Gently—

not in Wahid’s stead: hers is the right to be the one.

حُسْنُها في العيون حسْنٌ وحيدٌ

فلها في القلوب حبٌّ وحيدُ

Her beauty in the eyes is a beauty unique;

hers in the hearts is a love unique.

ونَصيحٍ يلومُني في هواها

ضَلَّ عنه التوفيقُ والتسديدُ

To an adviser who blames me for loving her—

right guidance and sound judgment have strayed from him.

لو رأى من يلُوم فيه لأضحى

وهو المسْتَريثُ والمسْتَزيدُ

If he saw the one for whom he blames me, he would become,

though slow to linger, one who begs for more.

ضلَّةً للفُؤاد يَحْنُو عليها

وهي تَزْهُو حَياتَه وتَكيدُ

A beguiling error the heart inclines toward;

she makes his life exult even as she plots against it.

سَحرَتْهُ بمقْلتيْها فأضحتْ

عنده والذميمُ منها حميدُ

She bewitched him with her two eyes, until

even what is blameworthy in her became praiseworthy to him.

خُلِقَتْ فِتْنةً غِناءً وحُسْناً

ما لها فيهما جميعاً نَدِيدُ

She was created a temptation in song and beauty;

in both together she has no peer.

فَهْيَ نُعْمَى يميدُ منها كَبيرٌ

وهْيَ بلْوى يشيب منها وليدُ

She is a blessing that makes an elder sway,

and an affliction that turns an infant gray.

لِيَ حيْث انصرَفتُ عنها رفيقٌ

من هواها وحيث حَلَّتْ قَعِيدُ

Wherever I turn away from her, I have a companion

of her love; wherever she alights, it sits beside me:

عن يميني وعن شمالي وقُدّا

مي وخلفي فأين عنه أحيدُ

on my right and left, before

and behind me—where can I turn away from it?

سدَّ شيطانُ حُبِّها كلَّ فَجٍّ

إنَّ شيطان حبِّها لَمَرِيدُ

The demon of her love has blocked every mountain pass;

truly, the demon of her love is rebellious.

ليت شعري إذا أدام إليها

كَرَّةَ الطَّرْف مُبدىءٌ ومعيدُ

Would that I knew: when one keeps turning toward her

a gaze begun and begun anew,

أهْيَ شيء لا تسأم العين منه

أم لها كلَّ ساعة تجْديدُ

is she something the eye can never weary of,

or is she renewed at every hour?

بل هي العيش لا يزال متى استُعْ

رض يملي غرائباً ويُفِيدُ

Rather, she is life itself: whenever dis-

played, she unfolds wonders and bestows delight.

مَنْظَرٌ مَسْمَعٌ مَعانٌ من اللَّهْ

وِ عَتادٌ لما نُحبُّ عَتيدُ

A sight, a sound, meanings of pleasure—

ready provision for all that we love.

لا يَدبُّ الملالُ فيها ولا يَنْ

قُص من عَقْد سحْرِها تَوْكيدُ

Boredom never creeps into her, nor does it

loosen the firm knot of her enchantment.

حُسْنها في العيون حُسْنٌ جديدٌ

فلها في القلوب حُبٌّ جديدُ

Her beauty in the eyes is beauty ever new,

so love for her in hearts is ever new.

أخذ اللّه يا وحيدُ لقلبي

منك ما يأخذ المُدِيلُ المُقِيدُ

May God exact for my heart from you, O Wahid,

what the empowered victor exacts from a shackled captive.

حَظُّ غيري من وصلكُمْ قُرَّةُ العيْ

ن وحظيِّ البكاءُ والتَّسْهيدُ

Another’s share of union with you is delight to the eye;

my share is weeping and sleeplessness.

غير أني مُعَلِّلٌ منك نفسي

بِعِداتٍ خلالَهُنَّ وَعيدُ

Yet I console my soul with promises from you

whose folds conceal a threat.

ما تزالينَ نظرةٌ منك مَوْتٌ

لي مُمِيتٌ ونظرةٌ تخليدُ

You never cease: one glance from you is death

that kills me, and another glance is immortality.

نتلاقى فلحْظَةٌ منك وعْدٌ

بوصال ولحظةٌ تهديدُ

When we meet, one look from you promises

union, and another look threatens.

قد تركْتِ الصِّحاح مرْضى يميدُو

ن نُحولاً وأنت خُوطٌ يميدُ

You have left the healthy sick and swaying,

gaunt, while you sway like a tender bough.

والهوى لا يزال فيه ضعيفٌ

بين ألحاظِهِ صريعٌ جليدُ

Love remains weak there,

struck down between your glances though once hardy.

ضافَنِي حُبُّك الغريبُ فألوى

بالرُّقادِ النَّسيبِ فهو طريدُ

Your strange, foreign love lodged with me and drove away

the familiar, kindred love, now an exile.

عجباً لي أنَّ الغريب مُقيم

بيْن جَنْبَيَّ والنسيبُ شريدُ

Strange that the foreign one resides

between my ribs, while the kinsman wanders homeless.

قَد مَلَلْنا من ستر شيءٍ مليح

نشتهيه فهلْ له تجريدُ

We have tired of veiling something beautiful

that we desire—will it not be unveiled?

هو في القلب وهو أبعد من نج

م الثريّا فهو القريب البعيدُ

It is in the heart, yet farther away than

the Pleiades: the near one, the distant one.